• Home
  • SOCRATES’ THINKING
    • News and comment
    • Editorial
  • About
  • US
    • Sportsocratic team
    • Contributors
  • Reviews
    • Adventures
    • Books
    • Places
  • Contributions
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Sportsocratic

Thoughts, ideas, opinions and postulations on sport and adventuring

  • Sport & society
    • Ethics & Values
    • History
    • Favourite photos
    • Cultural and social issues
    • Politics
    • Big questions
    • Sport fashion
      • Sartorialism and style
  • Wild sports
  • Silly stuff
  • Sports science
    • Research
    • Coaching
    • Innovation
    • HEALTH
  • The things that made me
  • Stories
    • General sporting stories
    • Waves of Pain
      • No Respect!
      • Death Wish at Fairy Bower
      • Fried nuts
      • The ocean is a trickster… especially Hawaii’s North Shore – Gas chambers bites the unwary!
      • Titus Kinimaka’s nightmare Christmas
      • Dix dumped – the trials of a self-confessed elite body surfer
      • The little surf that nearly ruined a promising career…
      • Rabbit killer – a master takes a caning at pipeline!
      • Death Wish at Fairy Bower
      • Easternmost memory – surfing in the wild at the end of the continent
      • Nothing ruins a good surf like a couple of blokes with automatic assault rifles…
      • Agony for Miki Dora
      • Smashed at Gas Chambers
      • Who was Europe’s first surfing woman? Introducing the wonderful Witch of Newbury.
      • A bad day at Palmy – surfies and clubbies at war!
      • When being a proven waterman is not enough!
      • The highs and lows of surfing Sunset Beach while competing at the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational
      • An American midnight surf – that goes very wrong!
  • What does it mean?
    • What is a snake?
    • What does “shag” mean?
    • What does “Freddy Jones” mean?
    • What does “hook and ladder” mean?
    • What does back walk-over mean?
  • Philosophers Sport Bar
    • Socrates and Aristotle debate football defence
    • Michel de Montaigne on coaching sports
    • Ancient philosophers discuss what makes the beautiful game beautiful! Laozi and Socrates get technical.

The A-League – a football feast that fails to fill

July 14, 2017 By Max Sherry Leave a Comment Filed Under: Cultural and social issues

For a product to sell, not only does its marketing have to be flawless, but the product itself must be pretty bloody good. At the commencement of the 2016/2017 Hyundai A-League season, the FFA, Australia’s leading football organisation, announced that they would be rebranding to enhance their expansion both nationally and internationally. This rebrand came in the shape of a new logo, website and general re-structure of the A-League identity. In conjunction with its partner Fox Sports, the A-League clearly laid out its intention to make football Australia’s number one code of sport. Hulsbosch, the Sydney-based graphic design agency was given the responsibility of the creative part of the project. They placed “atmosphere, diversity and unity” at the forefront of the rebrand, attempting to “create a stronger footprint in Australia”. In general, the work has been successful. But is that enough?

Some ground made

Despite the bright, shiny marketing campaigns, there are some fundamental and inherent flaws

Over the past 20 years, football has undoubtedly risen to challenge other, more deeply embedded sports codes in Australia. For decades AFL, cricket and the rugby codes have ruled the roost and reaped the rewards. On the surface, the A-League, which works as the driving force for domestic football, is the game’s figurehead (its Premier League if you like) and the peak of Australian football. Yet despite the bright, shiny marketing campaigns, there are some fundamental and inherent flaws in the foundations and framework of Australian football. These issues tell a different story to the one about sold-out stadiums (even though they don’t), flash kit sponsors and imports. These problems are the root cause of why young Australian players are choosing to go abroad to learn their trade and only by confronting and correcting them will the beautiful game have a chance at survival in this footballing outpost. In short – football at the grass roots level in Australia is broken. From poor coaching standards and astronomically high fees, to the topping up of squads with inadequate players of the ‘right heritage’ – the A-League doesn’t stand a chance! Despite the undeniable love shown to the A-League from those fans without the prior knowledge of the sports dysfunctional state leagues, there is a deep venom that runs from within that sees young, home-grown players turn away from the sport at a state level. They are then left to look disappointedly at the final product thinking “It could be so much better.”

Not an “unlimited” experience

The A-League markets their game and ultimately the fan experience as “unlimited”, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, the A-League and Australian football is extremely limited. It can only offer the consumer a one-dimensional, low standard of football. But A-League clubs can only work with the raw materials they are given and the wage cap restricts access to even more foreign imports. More failed Brazilians replacing driven but technically floored youngsters is a sorry by-product of a broken system. Ambitious Aussie kids ranging from under 12s to reserve grades are often benched and even released with the arrival of “foreign talent” or to put it more accurately “former Dutch Division 4 players”. 7th generation synthetic pitches, the ultra-bright flood-lights using the same amount of electricity as the entire Alice Springs City Council, and the imports with only their first name on the back of their shirts is not enough to put Australian football on the map. And as for finding the next Tim Cahill?! You can call off the search for a while.

Australian teams often struggle at Asian Champion’s League level

Behind its glimmering new logo and chic commercials, the A-League teams’ inability to compete in the Asian Champions League epitomizes everything that’s wrong with the game in this country. Stripped down to its simplest form, 11 v 11, Aussie football cannot compete at an international level – and even the team at Mad Men could not convince the savvy football-watcher otherwise. The grass roots are not being tended and in fact have grown so out of control there is a very real danger that they will strangle the sport on a domestic level – before its even had a chance to get going.

Money in transfer markets

Football clubs across the globe make money in the transfer market. Those that play the game well, do very well from it. Chelsea have almost turned it into an art-form with a huge roster of playing staff being constantly rotated, loaned out and traded. And many of those being marketed are home grown talents. Top flight clubs rely on the process to keep competitive. Those in the level below rely upon the income to survive. Why then, is there no transfer fee when Australian A-League clubs wish to buy players from the national feeder leagues? Unlike NRL or the AFL, there seems to be no real competitive market here for the transfer of players between teams. An undeniable opportunity exists for National Premier League (state) sides to make money by developing homegrown players and then selling them to the A-League clubs. This would have triple benefits. The state league teams would be more inclined to take coaching more seriously if there was a financial windfall at the end of it. They would also be less inclined to carry on the tradition of including less talented players with a Greek/Macedonian/Italian/Jewish/Croat/Serb background to keep the club officials happy. This would result in more natural talent getting the platform it deserves. And that, would lead to less potential going to waste before it has had time to blossom.

Answer at the grass-roots

Grass roots of the game in the UK is well run

Every time the Socceroos scrape a draw with a footballing powerhouse like Oman the same old pleas about a lack of talent in Australia can be heard. The A-League seems to take a large degree of the blame. ‘Not good enough…’, ‘…. too slow….’, ‘technically deficient….’ is about the strength of it. All true. But can we lay all the blame at the A-league’s door? They aren’t insisting that parents pay $2,500 for their kid to play in the state league. They aren’t employing unqualified mates as coaches. And they aren’t trying to charge $20 for a parent to watch his son play in an under 20 game. The problems start much earlier than at A-League level. In truth, the A-League can only work with the materials they are given. Finished but technically flawed materials. And they cannot be held responsible for the development of the coming generations of Australian football talent. The Premier League works because, despite headlines to the contrary – British talent can still rise to the top. It’s hard for sure, but if you’re good enough, take your chances and have a fair old sprinkling of luck – you could make it. The young British players nibbling around the edges of it have one distinct advantage over the young Aussie’s trying to make it here – the grass roots of the game in the UK is well run, affordable for parents and filled with quality coaches. Finding the next Rooney is a damn site easier than spotting a future Mark Viduka.

The slick marketing of the A-League is on par with that of the English Premier League. Its glossy logo, high quality production, designer-suited presenters and sexy videos depict a thriving league in a football obsessed country. The reality is a lot different. Underneath the thin veneer of gloss is an organisation struggling to fill stadiums (some of that is geographical and at this stage in the league’s growth must be taken on the chin) and a lack of Australian talent. “The unique identity is primarily a reflection of the passionate football fan. It delivers a clarified visual language that is energetic and positive for a stronger football footprint in Australia,” says Jaid Hulsbosch, creative director at Hulsbosch. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But is the fan really going to feel that? These are the same fans who have been brought up watching the Premier League on TV. They are not stupid. They know this league is pedestrian by comparison. They get it. And until the FFA take a microscope to the grass roots of the game here – they’ll continue to be amongst the very few who do.

Max Sherry

Support Sportsocratic

Thanks for reading this story! We appreciate your visit to Sportsocratic… and love providing alternative information, opinions and angles from the sporting world. The world of sport is so full of the same old stuff from the same old sources that it drives us nuts… and it makes our day giving voice to less orthodox views. If you appreciate our free service, give some thought to helping us out. It costs us big bucks to keep Sportsocratic going but, if our readers support us, our future is much more secure.

Help us to keep you entertained and informed… and enable Socrates to keep asking those big philosophical sporting questions.

Support Sportsocratic for as little as a $1 and we would love you to bits. It only takes a few seconds!

Support Us

Tagged With: A-League, FFA, football, grass roots, soccer, state leagues, transfer fees

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

SOCRATES’ RECENT TWEETS

Tweets by Sportsocratic

Secret Sports Person

Their sporting life – A journalist’s story

April 7, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

“Bill” could have been a great rugby player… but he was more interested in other things. Do people display characteristics of their personal and working lives through their performances on the sporting field? Socrates describes the sporting life of one of his favorite people, and shows how the skill and character of one of Australia’s best journalists was always on show, even as a young man, whether on the rugby field, the basketball court or even on a quiet country headland when threatened with fisticuff by a big bloke wearing a blue uniform. Get “Bill’s” story here. Click the pic!

Olympics Rugby Teams – Who are the greatest?

April 23, 2020 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

The rugby trivia question for the century! Which national rugby union team holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals in Rugby Union (the full-team fifteen a side game)?

Ethics and fairplay

Wallaby v France test – the moment that soared above all the others

July 20, 2021 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

There were many great moments in the final Wallabies versus France rugby test last week but according to Socrates, one stood our far above all the others. Was it a great try? A brilliant tackle? A perfect scrum or line-out? A fantastic bit of work at the break-down? According to the rotund Greek hooker it was none of those things. He reckons that the highlight of the game was a much quieter, simpler and more subdued moment. A moment that might have escaped the attention of millions of spectators. Find out about Socrates favorite moment of the test. Click the pic.

Never cheated in my life!

November 19, 2020 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

What is cheating? Is cheating a black and white moral issue… or are there shades of gray. Socrates spent twenty years in the engine room of the beautiful game of rugby… the scrum. He loved being a rugby hooker. He reckons that being slap bang in the middle of sixteen enormous, sweating blokes desperate to secure possession of the ball for their team taught him quite a bit about the fine art of cheating… what it is… and what it isn’t…. and how it can be done. Here Socrates lifts the veil on aspects of the workings of the 1970’s and 80’s amateur rugby scrum revealing some of its secrets. In so doing he shows that cheating is not a simple moral issue. he also claims to haver never deliberately cheated. Do you believe him?

matildas

Just six words…

May 20, 2021 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS 1 Comment

Have you ever wished that you could meet and have a conversation with someone you idolize? What would you say to your idol to convince them to want to stay in the conversation? What would they say in response to your brilliant social skills? How would the conversation go? How would it leave you feeling? An Australian ex-professional athlete who had played with and against some of the greatest basketball talent that this country has ever seen (Andrew Gaze, Ricky Grace, Shane Heal, Phil Smythe) once, by chance, had a meeting with possibly the greatest and most famous professional sports person that has ever lived. The superstar he bumped into, in a New York elevator, just happened to be the Aussie basketballer’s idol. How did the meeting turn out? Click the pic and discover the six most memorable words in this Australian point guard’s life.

Outstanding achievement

RITUAL: BEING CHAIRED UP THE BEACH

September 13, 2022 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Why do we subject professional athletes to embarrassing and cumbersome rituals at times when they should be celebrating. Why do athletes agree to participate in rituals that make them look like nongs? Chas Smith makes the argument for banning the post-contest victory chair-up-the-beach. Click the pic to get Chas’ important advice to the world of contest surfing.

New surfing podcast

One of Australia’s greatest ever surfers – one of surfing’s greatest story tellers – “Rabbit” Bartholomew – talks to award winning journalist Tim Baker about life, surfing and stuff. Perfect listening for lockdown entertainment.

professionalism

To smash or be skillful? Can good defense be coached or are accidents like the Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu incident inevitable?

August 31, 2021 By SOCRATES NEWS DESK Leave a Comment

In a tough body contact sport are occasional horrible accidents inevitable? Possibly. But probably not with the frequency that many former elite players and expert analysts argue. Socrates believes that good coaching and hard work from highly skilled players can prevent many potentially dangerous tackles and that accepting the horror accidents as inevitable and high level skills as “uncoachable” sells athletes, professional sports and coaches short. Get the story here. Click the pic.

wisdom

Its just a job. Grass grows. Birds fly. Waves pound the sand. I beat people up. – Muhammad Ali

sport at mardi gras

Athletes in the LGBTQI Mardi Gras

March 12, 2019 By SOCRATES 2 Comments

Twenty-one different sports teams marched in this years Sydney Mardi Gras. That’s twenty-one groups of out and proud queer athletes. The LGBTQI community need to be “fearless” and queer athletes are no exception. Check out these fearless sporting clubs living it up on their night of night!

A life with horses

A life with horses – or Lulu in wonderland

August 8, 2018 By TIMOTHY EDWARDS Leave a Comment

It’s well known that playing sport can be a life-changing experience. For one mum, adventurer and businessperson, having a sporty pastime was more than life-changing. Lulu’s friendship with her horses has touched her and her daughter’s lives in a million ways and created a whole new life in an ever-changing wonderland for them both. But don’t think for a moment that their horses are the purpose built catalysts for their ideal lives! Its way more complex than that… and more respectful. Read on! It’s worth it!

wisdom

“Pressure? Pressure is a Messerschmidt up your arse. Playing cricket is not!”

Keith Miller

One of the greatest cricket “all-rounders” of all time, Keith Miller was not only an exceptional performer in multiple elements of test cricketing (batting, bowling and fielding) but he was also gifted in numerous other aspects of his life. Witty, entertaining, handsome, a renowned war time pilot and gifted Australian Rules Footballer, Miller was famed for calling a spade a spade and acknowledging that there was much more to life than elite sports. Having flown fighter bombers in the Second World War under life threatening circumstances he was not one to take the “pressure” of high level sport too seriously!

trivia

Here is a cracker of a trivia question.

Who was the college recruiting scout talking about when he said the following to his head coach.

“I’ve just seen a fat guy… who can play like the wind!”

Yup. The same guy who told people that just because they had shoes like his, it didn’t make them like him in any other way. Charles Wade Barkley.

Etymology

Postecoglou coaching pointers

March 8, 2023 By SOCRATES Leave a Comment

Celtic football coach Ange Postecoglou’s post League Cup interview avoided the normal “we knew we had to…”, “full credit to the boys…” and “we talked about blah blah blah during the week…” bollocks that is so common in post-match player and coach chats with the media. The coach actually revealed important insights into the way great coaches think and how they seek to get the best out of their players. Any coach aspiring to become a great coach, no matter what sport they teach should listen to this interview. Postecoglou is the real deal. There are few coaches better at getting the most out of their team.

What does it mean?

What is Elvis leg?

Admit it. You’ve never heard of “Elvis leg,” have you? What the blazes is “Elvis leg?” As is the case with every other “What does it mean…” story we have ever posted, the answer is not directly related to the name itself. It is indirectly related to Elvis, though. Have a guess what the relationship is… then click here and check out whether your were correct. Find out for certain which sport uses this term and what it means.

What is a liberator?

Of course most you aviation buffs will think that a liberator is an American WW2 heavy bomber. Fair enough. But in a sporting context does it have a completely different meaning? Indeed it does. You are going to have to click here to find out what a liberator is and does in the world of sport.

Aphorisms, insights and wisdom

“The thing that’s depressing about tennis is that no matter how good I get I will never be as good as a wall.”

More perceptive sporting analysis from Mitch Hedberg, comic genius.

 

ebook

Phillip has returned to the south of India after eighteen years. But who is the young girl staying in his hotel? And what will he learn about his estranged brother through Inez, the Spanish backpacker?

To buy The Bangalore Test, John Campbell’s new ebook novella, just click the link.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

©2019 Sportsocratic